Volume 23, Number 12, 2125-2130, DOI: 10.1007/s11606-008-0797-4

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Publication Guidelines for Quality Improvement Studies in Health Care: Evolution of the SQUIRE Project

Frank Davidoff, Paul Batalden, David Stevens, Greg Ogrinc, Susan Mooney and for the SQUIRE development group

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Abstract

In 2005 we published draft guidelines for reporting studies of quality improvement interventions as the initial step in a consensus process for development of a more definitive version. The current article contains the revised version, which we refer to as SQUIRE (Standards for QUality Improvement Reporting Excellence). We describe the consensus process, which included informal feedback, formal written commentaries, input from publication guideline developers, review of the literature on the epistemology of improvement and on methods for evaluating complex social programs, and a meeting of stakeholders for critical review of the guidelines’ content and wording, followed by commentary on sequential versions from an expert consultant group. Finally, we examine major differences between SQUIRE and the initial draft, and consider limitations of and unresolved questions about SQUIRE; we also describe ancillary supporting documents and alternative versions under development, and plans for dissemination, testing, and further development of SQUIRE.

KEY WORDS  quality improvement - publication - standards

Members of the SQUIRE development group who provided input during the development process and endorsed the SQUIRE guidelines are listed at the end of this article
Editors Note: The SQUIRE Guidelines are intended to advance research in quality improvement. Quality of care and patient safety are at the heart of general internal medicine and consequently, the readers of the Journal of General Internal Medicine. A longer, more detailed explanation of the development of the SQUIRE consensus development effort appears in the October supplement to the journal Quality and Safety in Health Care. Because of the importance of the topic and its relevance to our readership, we are publishing this portion of that supplement.
An erratum to this article can be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11606-008-0836-1

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